Intentions to Marry, 1879

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840391, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 855

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1879 Registrar A. M. Muir

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

27 January 1879

Francis Joajin Johnson
Margaret Russell Shearer

Francis Joaqin Johnson
Margaret Russell Shearer
💍 1879/1488

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
12 months

In St. Matthews Church

79/1194

no person in the Colony to give consent to minor

27 January 1879

Revd. C. J. Byng

No	38
Date of Notice	27 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joajin Johnson	Margaret Russell Shearer
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Joaqin Johnson	Margaret Russell Shearer
	💍 1879/1488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	In St. Matthews Church
Folio	79/1194
Consent	no person in the Colony to give consent to minor
Date of Certificate	27 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd. C. J. Byng

27 January 1879

William Penfold
Margaret O'Connor

William Penfold
Margaret OConnor
💍 1879/32

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Barmaid

27 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
4 years

In St. Josephs Chapel

79/1668

27 January 1879

Right Revd. Dr. Moran

No	39
Date of Notice	27 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Penfold	Margaret O'Connor
BDM Match (97%)	William Penfold	Margaret OConnor
	💍 1879/32
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Barmaid
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Chapel
Folio	79/1668
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Right Revd. Dr. Moran

27 January 1879

James Cameron
Eliza Noble Keith

James Cameron
Eliza Noble Leith
💍 1879/27

Bachelor
Spinster

Minister

26 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 days
3 days

In the house of Mrs. Catherine McLeod, Melrose

79/1678

no person in the Colony to give Consent to minor

27 January 1879

Revd. Dr. Stuart

No	40
Date of Notice	27 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cameron	Eliza Noble Keith
BDM Match (97%)	James Cameron	Eliza Noble Leith
	💍 1879/27
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Minister
Age	26 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Catherine McLeod, Melrose
Folio	79/1678
Consent	no person in the Colony to give Consent to minor
Date of Certificate	27 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart

28 January 1879

William Hilton
Julia Ellen Gwyn Hawkley

William Hilton
Julia Ellen Gwyn Hawkley
💍 1879/21

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
7 years

In the house of William Hilton, Forth Street

79/1683

Thomas Hawkley, father of Minor

28 January 1879

Revd. Dr. Stuart

No	41
Date of Notice	28 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hilton	Julia Ellen Gwyn Hawkley
	💍 1879/21
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Hilton, Forth Street
Folio	79/1683
Consent	Thomas Hawkley, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	28 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart

29 January 1879

Alexander Stott
Mary Ada Sinclair

Alexander Stott
Mary Ada Sinclair
💍 1879/28

Widower
Spinster

Schoolmaster

33 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 weeks
5 years

In the house of John Sinclair, Blueskin

79/1649

29 January 1879

Revd. Dr. Stuart

No	42
Date of Notice	29 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Stott	Mary Ada Sinclair
	💍 1879/28
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	33 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Sinclair, Blueskin
Folio	79/1649
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart

30 January 1879

William Conway
Bridget Mary Curtain

William Conway
Bridget Mary Curtin
💍 1879/35

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Dressmaker

30 years
21 years

Mornington
Dunedin

3 months
2 1/2 years

In St. Josephs Chapel

79/1663

30 January 1879

Right Revd. Dr. Moran

No	43
Date of Notice	30 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Conway	Bridget Mary Curtain
BDM Match (98%)	William Conway	Bridget Mary Curtin
	💍 1879/35
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Dressmaker
Age	30 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Chapel
Folio	79/1663
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Right Revd. Dr. Moran

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).